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(04/23/2001) grace for change


Hello prayer warriors, 1. Prayer note: grace for change Recently, we talked about true change. First, that true change was effortless. Second, that in order to maintain that change, we need to have a single eye that is full of light. Be positive. Look at God's Word all the time. Reject negative or destructive thoughts or temptation. What happens if we fail? We thought we've changed for good, dropped a destructive habit, overcome a depression, etc. and suddenly, we fall again. When Adam failed, he let guilt get the better of him and he hid from God. He forgot that God is a good God. Instead of asking for forgiveness, he played with his guilt and he accused God for his sins. [Genesis 3:11-12] 11 And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom THOU gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Why did I say that Adam accused God instead of Eve? Because Adam said, the woman whom THOU gavest to be with me. He was indirectly accusing God. Sometimes we suffer consequences of our sins and we accuse God. We become angry with Him. We fail to understand that if we ask Him for forgiveness, He would readily forgive and receive us. Now, not only will God forgive us, He will find us pleasing to Him. Why do I say that? We have sinned and yet, God finds us pleasing to Him? Because if we know how to make ourselves right with God again, by coming to the Father through the blood of the Lamb, we become an aroma pleasing to God because of Jesus' sacrifice. [1 John 4:10] Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. What does propitiation mean? The Greek word that is used is Hilasmos, which means "the means of appeasing". It comes from the root word hileos which means gracious, happy, friendly, bless. This means that when we accept God's sacrifice, what Jesus has done for us on the Cross, God is happy with us and He finds us pleasing to Him. [Ephesians 5:2] And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. Hey, we become a sweetsmelling aroma. This is symbolic of one of the types of offering in the Old Testament. It's called the burnt offering. [Leviticus 1:9-10] 9 He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 10 "`If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, he is to offer a male without defect. (NIV) Jesus did not only become a sin offering for us (which is another type of offering in the Old Testament), which means our sins are transferred to the animal. He also became a burnt offering for us, which means that the symbolical perfection of the animal is transferred to us, that we may be perfect and be a sweet smelling aroma which pleases God. That's what it means that we are made right. All we have to do is come to God instead of letting false guilt get the better of us and just repent again. [1 John 1:9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is how God continues to give us grace for change. When we learn that whenever we fail, He is ever ready to accept us. We don't have to walk around with our guilt and say "Lord, I've failed again and I'm just such a terrible person," or "I'm just such a failure, I might as well give up." Know that when we are made right with Him, He finds us pleasing. He is pleased with us not because of how great we are, but because Christ became our perfect sacrifice. 2. New prayer requests: i. prayer request for Michael David Howard -- guest http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1792&table=prayer ii. financial relief -- guest http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1795&table=prayer iii. Pray for Godly marriage -- guest http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1799&table=prayer iv. for severely burned Ukrainian children -- guest http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1800&table=prayer v. I need prayer -- carousel1954 http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1801&table=prayer vi. Prayer for financial provisions -- jaregala http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1802&table=prayer vii. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!!! -- guest http://mydevotion.com/logos/asp/viewpyrrep.asp?forumid=5&forumtype=2&topicid=1803&table=prayer 3. Number of prayer warriors: 792 We welcome destiny, okbishop, moyak2, growing, gathol, demmouse, chermom, toby, godswoman, 333333, jflizhenderson, zeta96, gwaunna, mahogany01, hisfaithgirl, betsfaith, trish95 and cpeek into our prayer group. 1 has unsubscribed & 4 emails have become invalid. Special note: Please continue to pray for me. I've had this cold, cough and phlegm for 5 weeks now. Thanks. in Christ, Wai Hun
Monday, April 23, 2001 12:00:19 AM waihun
changed on Tuesday, May 01, 2001 7:33:38 AM

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